Pine Nut Brittle
I never, ever thought I would be one to make candy. Never even considered it. Too much measuring, timing, and realizing how much sugar is actually in the stuff. Not for me. I’ll stick to wrapping things in bacon and mixing drinks. But then on one beautiful summer day, there it was, circled by gansie in a recent issue of Gourmet she sent my way:
Genius. I figured I had pretty much thought of every way to use a pine nut, but i had never turned it into a brittle. And why not? I love peanut brittle but had never considered making it at home, much less replacing the peanut with a more exciting nut. And it’s super-easy. No candy thermometer or any of that junk needed — just a pot, sugar, water, and plenty of the p-nuts.
Check out gourmet’s recipe for the deets, but in the meantime here’s a photo play-by-play:
Bring water and sugar to a boil.
Swirl a couple of times, leave for ten minutes and the sugar-water turns amber. Yep, this is white sugar, not brown. I know all you bakers are looking at me like “well, yeah, fucking obviously,” but I had no idea it would change color so quickly. Amazing.
Stir in pine nuts, pour over foil. The brittle hardens almost immediately.
Peel off the foil, break apart, and you’ve got yourself some brittle! See, that was easy!
I think I just might get more into brittles. Almond brittle? Pecan brittle? Macadamia nut brittle? Any other ideas?
Ginger brittle?
If you want the thicker peanut-brittle texture, you could hit that with a tsp of baking soda when you take it off the heat, stir it real fast as it bubbles up into a science project and then pour it out on the pan.
almond brittle might be fun broken up in a yogurt with peaches
cashew brittle?
potato chip brittle?
corn brittle?